United Airlines Plane From US To China Forced To Turn Back Because Pilot Forgot To Bring Passport

Illustration of the United Airlines fleet. (Wikimedia Commons/lasta29)

JAKARTA - United Airlines' Boeing 787 jet flying from Los Angeles, United States to Shanghai, China had to turn around after it was discovered that one of its pilots took off without a passport, the airline told CNN in a statement.

The UA 198 flight departed from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at around 2 p.m. Saturday, March 22, with 257 passengers and 13 crew in it and headed northwest across the Pacific Ocean to China's largest city.

About two hours later, the plane turned around and was diverted to San Francisco, where it landed at around 5 pm local time, according to the FlightAware website.

"The plot does not carry its passport," United said in the statement, as reported by CNNN April 4.

"We set up a new crew to take our passengers to their destination that night. Passengers are given a voucher for meals and compensation," he added.

Yang Shuhan, a Chinese passenger on board, said he heard "a very frustrated pilot voice" through the intercom, saying he "forgot to bring his passport."

After landing in San Francisco, Yang received two food coupons worth a total of 30 US dollars, which he used to eat at a Japanese restaurant at the airport.

He said he also filed a compensation claim on United's website, where he was told he would receive a response within 14 working days.

Travelers from Hangzhou, in eastern China, are on their way home from a business trip. After arriving in Shanghai at 12:43 a.m. on Monday, he still has to drive for another two and a half hours, he said, which made him tired.

Although the unexpected delay disrupted his work plans on Monday, Yang said he appreciated the pilot's "honestity".

However, many other passengers grumbled and said they were "angry" and " couldn't say anything" on RedNote, China's Instagram-like platform.

"How could someone make this bad mistakes at work?" wrote a popular RedNote post that appears to have come from other Chinese passengers on the plane. The post has been liked more than 10,000 times.

The flight with the new crew took off around 9 p.m. and landed in Shanghai about six hours late from schedule.

Perturbations did not stop at UA 198, but also experienced by passengers on the return flight, UA 199 from Shanghai to Los Angeles, was also affected by delays in arriving aircraft arrivals.

A Shanghai-based business traveler, who asked not to be named due to privacy concerns, said their flight to LA was also delayed by about six hours, forcing them to change their ticket to catch a follow-up flight.

"I feel very frustrated," the person said after landing at LAX on Sunday night.

"Due to the delay, I had to reschedule all of my plans for Monday, which was really a hassle," he added.

According to the company's website, United is one of the largest airlines in the world, flying 140 million people to more than 300 destinations on six continents each year.

"This is quite embarrassing (for United)," said Shukor Yusof, founder of Endau Analytics, an advisory firm focused on Singapore-based aviation industry.

He added that the mistake was "unacceptable" to global airlines like United and showed "lack of discipline."

Shukor noted that the "discussion" reflected in the incident could be detrimental to airlines, taking into account costs such as jet fuel that must be disposed of before diverting and compensation for passengers.